By Keith Morelli, Tampa Tribune
Original publication date: Oct. 19

Odessa, Fla. — At 89, Ken Ervin would never have called 9-1-1 unless he absolutely needed help, his family said.

The World War II Navy veteran had carved out a life with his wife, Bera, in Odessa, where he spent his days keeping bees and growing an organic garden, giving away honey and vegetables. The couple had lived in Odessa for 28 years.

All that ended late on the night of Oct. 10 when Ervin began having severe abdominal pains. When Bera called for help, it never came, relatives and neighbors said.

The couple’s daughter, Meg Pylant, said the 9-1-1 operator asked too many questions before determining that Ervin’s problem wasn’t an emergency and said an ambulance could be sent to the Odessa home, but it was several miles away and it would be coming without lights and sirens on. It could take an hour to get there.

Hillsborough County emergency officials say that’s true, they got the call and the dispatcher didn’t think the abdominal pains represented a life-threatening situation. Such a call would have required a non-emergency ambulance and one wasn’t immediately available, they said. The wait would be at the most an hour. The call ended when Gladys Lee, a neighbor, told the dispatcher that she would take Ervin to the hospital.

Lee, a retired nurse, said she grabbed the phone from Bera Ervin and told the dispatcher that she would take Ken Ervin to the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital in Tampa.

Ken Ervin died the next day from an aortal aneurism, Pylant said. It was one day before the couple’s 69th wedding anniversary.

“We are very upset about their response to this,” Pylant said, talking about the 9-1-1 call. “They used very poor judgment. My mom was in a panic. My dad was hollering in pain. He was doubled over, screaming.”

She said her parents weren’t the type to call for help.

“They are people who don’t use the system unless they absolutely have to,” said Pylant, a registered nurse. “I realize they [9-1-1 dispatchers] have to screen their calls but to hear somebody screaming in background … you just don’t blow it off and say it’s not an emergency.”

At the hospital, there was nothing to be done, she said. Her father was given morphine and died just before 6 p.m. the next day.

Lee said the dispatcher said the condition did not sound life-threatening.

“He had stomach pains,” Lee said. “He was screaming. How can that not be a life-threatening condition? It was aggravating to me. I said, ‘Look, I’ll take him to the hospital.'”

The recording of the 9-1-1 call confirms much of what Lee said. Ken Ervin could be heard groaning and vomiting in the background.

The dispatcher told both Bera Ervin and Lee that stomach ailments typically aren’t life-threatening situations and that a non-emergency ambulance was being dispatched as they spoke. The dispatcher said the unit that was being sent was located near Bearss and Florida avenues, less than 20 miles away.

Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokesman Ray Yeakley said dispatch did get the call late that night, but that he was unaware of any “red flags” over it. An official complaint had not been filed, he said.

He said the call was canceled because dispatchers were told the patient was going to the hospital in a private vehicle.

“Abdominal pains typically are not considered life threatening, but you don’t know,” he said. “This turned out to be something much more severe.”

He said occasionally such calls end this way.

“This is not the first time that this has happened,” he said.

About the Author
Contact Keith Morelli at kmorelli@tampatrib.com or 813/259-7760.

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